Rotary photogravure printing apparatus



Sept. 29, 1953 A. M, HALLEY ROTARY PHOTOGRAVURE PRINTING APPARATUS .3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed June 29, 1950 YR A0 Y M A r m M m M Sept. 29, 1953 A. M. HALLEY 2,653,535

ROTARY PHOTOGRAVURE PRINTING APPARATUS I Filed June 29, 1950 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Al 61 .5 MuH/M Y f/ YLLE) NVfNfOR 73M WW5 M Sept. 9, 1953 A. M. HALLEY ROTARY PHOTOGRAVURE PRINTING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 29, 1950 l/ r/ /ll/MII Patented Sept. 29, 1953 OFF CE.

some! rrroro r wunr PRINTING APPARATUS Angus. Murray-Halley, Moseley, B rmingham alin nd Appligationiune 29, 1950,, Serial No. 171,151

"I nGreat Britain May'8, 1950 5 Claims 1 This invention has reference 1 to improvements connected with photogravure printing apparatus and has for its object to provide a means whereby image cylinders of varying diametersflcan be utilised in the apparatus whilstmaintaininga sealing of the cylinder within a casingwith only a small segmental proportion of the cylinder projecting out of the casing and thereby obviating the use of a cover over. the casing. Asflllthfil more specific object of the invention is to pro.- vide means whereby .a doctor blade which is mounted within a casing can be swung away from the image cylinder without breaking a line contact between the said housing .and the sealing member.

The invention consists of a rotary photogravure printing apparatus characterised in that the doc: tor blade is mounted in a housing which has l ne contact with an arcuate face of a sealing member the centre of curvature whereof is coincident with apivot axis about .whichthe housing maybe rocked; the invention further resides in the proyision of means whereby the doctor blade housin which is quasircylindrlcal in form, can be rotated about a longitudinal axis after the manuai release of a locking device which admits of the ready re-setting oi thehousing to the initial position. The invention may further reside in the proyir sion of chutes which substantially till the spaces between the ends of the image cylinder and the casing therefor, said chutes :being rockable with the doctor blade housing about thepivot e incident with the axis or the sealing memberand having an arcuate underiace struck from fiiid pivot whereby the chutesmamtaain a QQBSWX-ia close contact with the protrud ng spindle or trunnions of the image cylinder for all-set ings of the doctor blade housing.

The invention will now be described with particular reference to the accompanying draw.- ings in which:

Fig. 1 is "a part sectional end elevation of suificient of the apparatus. for an understanding of the present invention.

Fig. '2 is a longitudinal section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

3 1s a section on the line -3--3 of Fig-2.

Fig.4 i an end el rat si ioie-reeti f he rese nismseen in Fig.1.

Fig. i 5 is a perspective vi w 19MB? i l tee and integral ink. chutes- "The -.rotar.y .photogravure printing apparatus illustrated in the drawingsisof the kind wherein the image cylinder 6 is provided with trunnions ,7 which are mounted i rf-bearings 8 in the end wallsof a casings which can-berocked hypneumatic means about a pivot, not shown, sothat the periphery of the image cylinder 6 contacts the printing medium passing around an impression cylinder I I. The ink, which is of a volatile character, is retained within a tray I2 and into the ink in this traythe lower portion of the periphery of the image cylinder 6 is adapted to dip. It is to be appreciated that in such an apparatus it is a desideratum that a substantial sealing should be maintained around the image cylinder adjacent the upper edge of the casing and the present invention admits of such a sealing whilst also permitting the use of image cylinders of different diameters. To this end mounted at the upper edge of the casing on the one longitudinal side ofthe image cylinder 5 is a sealing plate I3, preferably of plastic material, which has pin and slot connection at M with the casing 9 so as to admit of its setting with its lower longitudinal edge in close contact with the periphery of the image cylinder. The seal on the other longitudinal side of the image cylinder is effected by a doctor blade 15 which is mounted ina carrier I8. in a quasi-cylindrical housing I1, this :housing I! having line contact with a parallel cylindrical sealing member I 8 .disposed between the'housing I1 and the side wall of the casing 9. The ends of the doctor blade housing II, which are. in the form ,of trunnions I9 and aredisposedabove the upper edge of the casing 9,-are mounted in side plates 20 .exterior to-the casing 9. These side plates 28 are capable of being rocked about an axis coincident with the longitudinal of the cylindrical sealing member I 8. 'Thus it will be seen that if these plates 20' are rocked the doctor blade housing I! will move around the periphery of the sealing member It whilst maintaining line contact therewith rorall settings of the doctor blade housing. The rocking ofthe side plates 2ilis efi'ected by means of .a knurled hand wheel 2I forming .part or :a rotatable sleeve. 2-2 surrounded bya clamping ring 23 fixed .to the casing .9 and carrying a pinion 2A in mesh with an are};itt toothed rack-25 formedon the lower portion of the side .plates'zll. This m lking motion of the doctor blade housing I! and ,c

blade I 5 ;be i ng removed iron the imagecylinder Wh n t docto -blade P 1 5 1 ha {b rocked away, from v the image cylinder t and the sealing plate I13 has been removed from contact .with the periphery on the opposite'si'de than by removing the upper po tions of -thapearings g the image cylinder can readily be removed from the icasingand if desired replaced b an image cylin- .der of a difierent diam t the rna e cylinder .is replaced by an image cylinder .of'a difierent diameter than the angular setting of the doctor blade I relative to the periphery of the image cylinder may be incorrect when again moved into contact therewith, and to admit of a correction the doctor blade housing I! is rotatable about its own axis and by virtue of its quasi-cylindrical form the line contact with the cylindrical sealing member i8 is not removed. This rotation is effected by means of a knurled hand wheel 26 on a sleeve '21 carrying a pinion 28 in mesh with a pinion 29 rotatable about the trunnions [9 of the doctor blade housing IT. The pinion 29 carries a plurality of pins 30 which engage slots in a disc 3| keyed to the trunnions 19 of the doctor blade housing 11, thus relative movement between the pinion 29 and the disc 3| in an axial direction is permitted to admit of the reciprocation of the doctor blade housing H in an axial direction as described in my copending application No.171,1'52 of even date. It will be understood that it is often necessary to remove the doctor blade l5 from the periphery of the image cylinder 6 for cleaning purposes and this can most conveniently be done by rotating the doctor blade housing ll about its own axis, thus to admit of the read re-setting of the doctor blade if; to its initial position there is provided a spring loaded locking plunger 32 which is adapted to co-operate with any one of a series of radial holes 33 formed in an enlargement 34 of the sleeve 21. This plunger is carried by a housing 35 and requires to be withdrawn before the knurled hand wheel 26 can be rotated and by relocating the plunger 32 in the same radial hole 33 the setting of the doctor blade I5 to its initial setting can be ensured. A pin 39 engaging a slot in the housing 35 admits of the housing 35 being set relative to the side plates 2%: to provide for settings between adjacent radial holes 33.

Within the casing 9 and moveable with the plates 29 are sealing plates 31 which are formed integral with ink chutes 38 the upper surfaces of which are inclined and extend from a position in close contact with the periphery of the trunnions I of the image cylinder 6 downwardly to- I wards a position adjacent a side wall of the easing 9 beneath the cylindrical sealing member 18. These sealing plates and ink chutes fill substantially the spaces between the ends of the image cylinder 6 and the end walls of the casing 9 on that longitudinal side of the image cylinder on which the doctor blade housing I! is disposed and the excess ink wiped from the periphery of the image cylinder 6 by the doctor blade I5 flows down the inclined chutes 38 to the interior of the casing 9. The sealing plates 31 are rockable with the end plates 20 about the longitudinal axis of the sealing member l8 and to admit of the close contact of the ink chutes 38 with the periphery of the trunnions l for all settings of the end plates 20 the ink chutes 38 has an arcuate underface 39 the arc of which is struck from the longitudinal axis of sealing member I8.

I claim:

1. In a rotary photogravure printing apparatus, in combination, a casing, an image cylinder rotatable in bearings in said casing, a sealing member having convex cylindrical face and a portion in sealing engagement with the casing, a quasi-cylindrical doctor blade housing the cylindrical surface of which is in line contact with said cylindrical face, means for rocking said doctor blade housing about an axis coincident with the centre of curvature of the cylindrical face of the sealing member and means for ro- 4 tating the doctor blade housing about its own longitudinal axis.

2. In a rotary photogravure printing apparatus, in combination, a casing, an image cylinder rotatably mounted in bearings in said casing, a cylindrical sealing member in sealing engagement with the casing, a parallel quasicylindrical doctor blade housing the cylindrical surface of which is parallel to and in contact with the sealing member, means for rocking the doctor blade housing about the longitudinal axis of said sealing member so as to maintain line contact therewith and means for rotating the doctor blade housing about its longitudinal axis.

3. In a rotary photogravure printing appatus, in combination, a casing, an image cylinder rotatably mounted by means of trunnions in bearings in said casing, a sealing member having a convex cylindrical face in sealing engagement with said casing, a doctor blade for contacting the periphery of the image cylinder, a doctor blade housing having a cylindrical surface in line contact with said cylindrical face, ink chutes between the ends of the image cylinder and the casing, said chutes having arcuate under faces in close contact with the trunnions of the image cylinder and struck from an axis coincident with the centre of curvature of the cylindrical face of the sealing member and means for rocking the doctor blade housing together with the ink chutes about an axis coincident with the centre of curvature of the cylindrical face of the sealing memher.

4. In a rotary photogravure printing apparatus, in combination, a casing, an image cylinder rotatably mounted by means of trunnions in bearings in said casing, a sealing plate extending across the top of said casing and in close contact with the periphery of the image cylinder on one side of its longitudinal axis, a quasicylindrical doctor blade housing carrying a doctor blade in contact-With the periphery of the image cylinder on the opposite side of its longitudinal axis, a cylindrical sealing member disposed between a side wall of the casing and said doctor blade housing with which it is in line contact, end plates rockable about the axis of the sealing member and carrying the doctor blade housing, ink chutes between the ends of the image cylinder and the casing rockable with said end plates and having arcuate under faces struck from the axis of the sealing member and in close contact with trunnions of the image cylinder and means for rotating the doctor blade housing about its longitudinal axis.

5. In a rotary photogravure printing apparatus according to claim 4 a locking plunger cooperating with any one of a plurality of holes in a rotatable part of the means for rotating the doctor blade housing about a longitudinal axis.

ANGUS MURRAY HALLEY.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 623,629 Scakville Apr. 25, 1899 2,321,342 Weiss June 8, 1943 2,323,983 Edmondson July 13, 1943 2,324,298 Grupe July 13, 1943 2,550,454 Crafts Apr. 24, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 585,901 Great Britain Feb. 27, 1947 649,366 Germany Aug. 23, 1937 

